Complement vs object

Status
Not open for further replies.

olegv

Member
Joined
Apr 30, 2010
Member Type
Interested in Language
Native Language
Ukrainian
Home Country
Ukraine
Current Location
Ukraine
Please explain me why a phrase "to keep up their standard of living" is complement of a sentence. Am I correct saying that "their standrad of living" would be seen as the object of the phrasal verb "to keep up"?

Would you please also explain me why "make a nice change" is the complement (rather than object) in the sentece: "A quiet afternoon at home would make a nice change" Thank you very much
 

Bamako2

Member
Joined
Jan 23, 2011
Member Type
Student or Learner
Native Language
Bengali; Bangla
Home Country
Armenia
Current Location
Argentina
Please explain me why a phrase "to keep up their standard of living" is complement of a sentence.

A lot depends on which sentence, Oleg!

To keep up their standard of living is important for them.

Here, the part in bold is the subject, for example. Depending on the syntactic arrangement, this phrase can be many things.

Am I correct saying that "their standrad of living" would be seen as the object of the phrasal verb "to keep up"?

Pravilna! :up:

Would you please also explain me why "make a nice change" is the complement (rather than object) in the sentece: "A quiet afternoon at home would make a nice change" Thank you very much

In this sentence, "be" can stand proxy for "make". This alone motivates me to think of "make" as being part of a copulative construction (SVC) as opposed to a subject-verb-object construction. :up:
 

Bamako2

Member
Joined
Jan 23, 2011
Member Type
Student or Learner
Native Language
Bengali; Bangla
Home Country
Armenia
Current Location
Argentina
C in SVC = Complement
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Top